A Family's Journey
by Coldplaychic
Summary: Rosalie Hale is a waitress struggling to make ends meet and care for her three year old son. She hasn't seen the father of her child , Emmett McCarty, since they parted ways after high school. After an accident , their paths cross once again .Will they be able to pull together? How will Emmett respond to meeting a child he never knew he had?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: Three Years Later

**Rose POV**

High school was hands down the greatest time of my life . At least it was until the night of graduation. That night the love of my life dropped a fucking nuke on my every dream with a single sentence. " I got into Harvard." I should have been prepared for this . I knew this would happen , after all Emmett is a genius and his very last name is weighted with power . He would go on to success and I would be left behind. I was able to mask my anguish with a smile and fake enthusiasm. We decided to make love one last time before he left . I was gonna miss him. His bright smile and dimples. His lively blue eyes. His jet black curls and his loving personality. He promised to call me and I swore the same. The day he left for school he left me and his son behind , unknowingly of course. I know I should have told him but he was so excited about Harvard and I knew this baby would effect his chances at success. I kept my secret only telling my father after Em had left.

My father's disappointment was short lived the moment he saw the ultrasound of his grandson he could care less it was his eighteen year old daughter who was pregnant . The distraction of a baby did nothing to stop me from thinking about Emmett. In fact it just made it worse. There was a time when I couldn't look at my son without breaking down . He looks so much like his damn father it's almost a curse. By the time Aaiden was two I had grown used to the twinge of pain I feel when my son flashes me a dimpled smile. I still hold a thread of hope that one day me and Emmett can pick up where we left off and be a family , but I know the chances are slim , I mean I know it's been three years but stranger things have happened. I did go from ambitious girl aspiring to be a social worker to being a waitress at the local diner . Sometimes life is just a tornado of bullshit.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two : Swings are Assholes

**Rose POV**

" Aaiden James McCarty ! You have five seconds to get your butt down these steps. We are gonna be late." I yell zipping up my jacket. Not long after I yell , Aaiden comes flying down the stairs . " Mom do I have to go to Uncle Jasper's ?" I grab his little hand on the way out the front door. " Yes you do . What's wrong with your uncle?" I ask opening the car door. " Mom, it's not Uncle Jasper or Uncle Edward . It's cousin Alice. The last time I was there she put make-up on me. Do I look like a damn girl?" After I'm done strapping him into his car seat , I flick his arm . " Watch your mouth , Aaiden. Just tell Ali that you don't wanna play that game." I smile at him before closing the car door. As I climb into the driver's seat , I look back and see Aaiden staring out the window frowning. Maybe he's upset because I flicked him.

" Aaiden you feelin' alright ? You know I only did that because you cussed." I feel so bad. " Mom it's not because of that it's just." He trailed off picking at his jeans. " I can't hear ya sweetheart. You gotta speak up." Okay if it's not that then what could be bothering him. " Momma why don't I have a daddy?" He asked . " Alice said that her daddy J takes her to the park and takes care of her daddy E. Momma if I don't have a dad , who takes care of you?" As he said this my eyes began to water. Shit. What do I tell him? I sniffled quietly. " Baby boy , your daddy left a few years ago to become a doctor. He's a really nice guy." Is that really that the best I can do? " Don't cry Momma . I don't need a daddy . I'll take care of you." My baby really was sweet.

After ten minutes, Jasper's house comes into view and I see Jasper and little Alice standing on the porch she has a hand on her hip and a pink sunhat in the other hand. I start giggling and shake my head. I pull up to the corner and stop the car. By the time I get Aaiden's door open he's already unbuckled. " I thought you weren't excited about coming here." I raise my eyebrow at him. " Mom it's Tuesday. We go to the park on Tuesday." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I laugh as he ran up the wooden steps and hugged his uncle's legs. " Hey buddy you ready to go to the park?" Jasper laughed ruffling Aaiden's short black curls. " Hell yeah." Aaiden laughed. Instead disciplining Aaiden , Jasper laughs. " Aaiden watch the language." I groan. He apologizes his little cheeks filling with color. I looked up at Jasper and saw him staring at me with a smirk. " What ?" I raise my eyebrow at him . " Rose you have the mouth of a sailor who was mentored by Samuel L. Jackson." How dare he? " That's bullshit Jazz and you know it." I slap my hand over my mouth , but apparently not quick enough. " Ooooo! Mom you said bullshit." Aaiden said dramatically. I rolled my eyes. " And so did you." Alice grabs Aaiden's hand and pulls him into the house.

" Jasper I'll be back at ten . Thank you for watching him for me." Jasper sucked his teeth . " No problem baby sis. I know you're trying hard." I pulled him into a tight hug and told him I'd see him later. I waved goodbye to them as I slowly drove away.

I reached Mama Clearwater's Diner an hour late. Just fucking great. I walked into the diner wrapping my apron around torso. " I'm sorry Sue. I had to drop off Aaiden at my brother's house." Sue shakes her head and gives me a stern look. " Don't ever apologize for taking care of your child ." I smiled at her at got right to work. " You're workin' table three. I'm warnin' ya right now , she's a real piece of work." Lauren says scrunching up her nose . Great . I am in no mood for bitchy attitudes. I take a deep breath and walk over to table three with my head held high. There's a woman sitting there . She's a strawberry blonde with a fake tan. She dons big designer sunglasses and a Louis Vuitton scarf. The woman pretends not to notice me standing at her table while she applied make-up . She's already starting to piss me off. I clear my throat. " Finally someone graces me with their presence. I'll have the grilled chicken salad . No onions. No salad dressing, just drizzle a tablespoon lemon juice on it . No salt. No pepper. None of that iceberg crap I saw at some of the other tables . I want romaine lettuce . Four thin tomato slices and makes sure the chicken is in thin strips. I want a water , preferably bottled because these glasses look dirty." When she ran out of steam she pulled out her phone. I stood there gathering my wits and trying to write everything she had said. She removed her sunglasses and looked over at me with piercing forest green eyes. "Why are you still standing there? Do you need me to repeat myself?" She sneered. I bit my tongue and narrowed my eyes . " No ma'am. I was just making sure I had written it correctly." I gritted out. She waved a manicured hand at me . " Thanks , er , Ros-uh-lie." She said snickering. What wrong with my name? I should punch her , but I don't need an assault charge and a job loss added to my list of problems so I just turned and walked away.

When I reach Lauren she erupts in laughter, taking the paper from me. " You are so damn mad your face is scarlet. I could probably grill this chicken your forehead." She wipes at her eyes . " Oh har har fucker. That bitch was so irritating." I say eyeing the woman back at the table as she wipes at imaginary filth on the table. " Look at her she's gotta be fuckin' loaded. Even if she's a bitch , she might tip nice." Lauren smiled. I can't argue with that logic . Lord knows I need the money . Lauren goes in back to grab the food from the kitchen. When Lauren returns , I grab the plate from her and the bottle of water and make my way over to the blonde nightmare. I place the food in front of her . " Took you long enough . Your job requires little effort and you still can't seem to get it right. You may leave now so I can eat in peace." She waved me off rolling her eyes. I was gonna let her have it before Sue came running toward me with wide eyes . " Rosalie , your brother called there's been an accident. He's at Little Miracles Pediatrics." I gasped at her words as I felt fear grip me. I ran out of the diner and toward my car.

I sped to the hospital fearing the worse and hoping for the best. I hope Aaiden and Ali are okay. I try to jump out the car as soon as I park forgetting to unbuckle the seatbelt. After I disentangle myself from the seat belt I race into the hospital and see Jasper and Ali hand in hand standing in the waiting room. " Where's Aaiden?" I ask frantically. " He's down the hall in room 2-A ." Jasper said rubbing my back. I ran down the hall and into the room. I breathe a sigh of relief when I see Aaiden sitting on the bed smiling. " Hi Momma." I walk over to him and embrace him. " Ouch !" Aaiden clutches his little arm. I pull away and look down at his arm . It's bruised and has large bump on the forearm. " Aaiden what happened?" I ask kissing the top of his head. " I was swinging and then I slipped off and hurt my arm. They did pictures of my arm." I look at his arm and bit my lip. " Aaiden it looks broken baby. How long have you been waiting for the doctor?" I hold him wary of his arm. He shrugs his shoulders. " I think it was ten minutes. I don't know." We sit like this for a few more minutes before I hear a knock at the door and the doctor walks in. I look up and into the familiar sparkling blue eyes I had missed so fondly. Emmett's eyes widen as he looks back and forth between Aaiden and me . " Rose?" I smile at him as panic sets in. Aaiden's last name is his last name . Why didn't I listen to my dad and give him Hale. " Momma , how do you know the doctor?" Aaiden asks looking up at me. "He's a friend of mine." I say before turning to Emmett. " How you been Emmett?" I ask running my fingers through Aaiden's hair. " I've been okay. Um, can I speak to you for a moment , in private?" I nod . " I'll be right back sweetheart." I laugh when Aaiden scowls at Emmett , but nods.

When we step out into the hallway , Emmett wastes no time diving right into conversation. " Rose I'm not an idiot. Aaiden looks just like me and he has my last name. What the hell is going on?" I sniffle and look up at him shaking my head. " You don't understand. I wanted to tell you , but you had a future ahead of you and do you know what a baby could have done to your future? He's three years old now and-. God I feel like such a bitch keeping him from you." The tears were streaming before I could stop them. " Rosalie calm down . What you did was really stupid , but incredibly selfless. I can never hate you for that , but I can't just walk away knowing that I have a son out there growing up without a father. Would you mind if I tried to get to know him ? Maybe the three of us can go grab lunch sometime or something." Does he really want to be in Aaiden's life? " Emmett I'm not saying no to you , but maybe we should ease you into his life. He's so young and I don't think he could handle it if you were to change your mind and want out. Maybe we could go out tomorrow . I'll see if I could get some time off . Does that sound good to you?" I smiled. Instead of answering Emmett just flashed me one of his trademark dimpled grins. " Alright now , let's go tend to **our** son ." He opened the door and we see Aaiden laying down on the bed with his eyes closed. " I hate to have to wake him , but I have to put a cast on that arm." I shake my head and close my eyes. " He's not asleep. If he were asleep he'd be snoring and mumbling about something." I laughed when Aaiden started blushing. " Fine you caught me." He said sitting up . " I was at the door tryin' to hear you , but then when you guys stopped talking I ran back over here." He shrugged and looked at Emmett. I followed his gaze and saw Em holding a few medical supplies. He was setting the supplies up as he explained Aaiden's injury. " Aaiden's x-rays shows a slight displaced fracture of the radius in his right arm. He needs to wear a cast for around three to six weeks depending on the progress of healing. If there is swelling , ice it and elevate his forearm above his heart." I think Emmett in doctor mode is really cute. " Momma why you starin' at the doctor ?" Aaiden asked knitting his eyebrows together. " I wasn't staring at him Aaiden." I can't lie for shit and he knows that. " Yes you were . You were like this." Aaiden then mocks me by looking at Em while opening his mouth and crossing his eyes. Emmett starts laughing . " See? Even the doctor thinks so." Stupid father son bonding. They just met and they're already playing 'let's gang up on mommy and make her look crazy'.

It took two hours for Emmett to put a cast on Aaiden's arm. We were almost out the door when Emmett rushed over and stopped us at the door. " Rose , I was wondering if maybe we could talk more later on about everything. Can I take you and Aaiden out for dinner? My shift ends in a few hours .I'll pick you up" Emmett is a persistent fucker. " Do you have your phone with you ?" I ask ,giggling when he frantically searches for his phone. He hands me his phone and I add myself to the contact list including my address , home number, and work number. " Call me when you get out of work and we'll come pick you up. You don't have a car seat Em." I say handing the phone back to him. Our fingers brush and I feel a familiar electric shock. " See you later , Rose. You too little man." Aaiden waves goodbye at him sleepily . We should really be heading home. I carefully pick up Aaiden and carry him to the car.

I place Aaiden in the car seat and laugh when he mumbles, " Swings are assholes." Tonight was gonna be a hell of a night.


End file.
